The Pageless Book

Despite my faith in the Divine, I don’t believe in an afterlife in the traditional sense. My sense of self, my ego, my intellect, will die with my body. To some, that thought is thoroughly depressing. I can certainly understand why. What level headed person wants to simply “end?” Yet, for me, it’s comforting. It’s the ultimate example of altruism; I end so others may begin. I decay, so that others may become. My name is forgotten, so that others may be known. I guess I’m not such a level headed person after all.

Someone who is currently struggling to find her own beliefs, particularly in regards life and death, recently helped me realize how someone comes to those conclusions. I could argue that my ideas concerning the afterlife is rooted in logic, historical facts, or even my personal holy text, the Gated Emptiness. None of this goes to the heart of how we come to our understanding of the universe around us; how we come to believing what we believe.

We feel the truth. We come to our conclusions purely by emotion, and then use reason to justify the conclusion. That doesn’t mean that our conclusions are wrong, but that does mean that my idea concerning the afterlife is no better or worse then those who believe differently. No one can be entirely certain that their ideas concerning the afterlife is the undeniable, absolute truth, absent of any origin in emotion. Even those folks who use science to back up their beliefs are choosing to rely on the experiments and experiences of thousands of men and women who are just as emotional and fallible as themselves. “Knowledge” itself is now questionable, if only because someone has to observe and interpret data to gain any use from it.

Thus the only thing we can really know is ourselves… and if you believe as I do, not even that is permanent. That is why, as an Omnitheist, I have to constantly remind myself that my view of the world isn’t the only “correct” view. I’m not perfect, but at the very least I can try.